About

$25,854

pledged of $20,000 goal

237

backers

GREAT NEWS!

The project is going to be funded! Thank you to everyone who has ensured that Flex Is Kings will be a success! We have hit our bare minimum to get the film Tribeca-ready! In our final hours, we've set a new goal of $22,500. Any additional contributions will go towards paying our composers, licensing original music and conforming the film to 24p for distribution.

BTW, we've been getting Hickies to the flex dancers and they LOVE them! Get yours today by backing this project for at least $25!

Hickies on dancer kicks!

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Flex Is Kings documents the hopes and realities of the under-acknowledged and totally unfunded group of Brooklyn artists behind the urban dance movement known as "Flex."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

PIZZA PARTY INCENTIVE

It's a wrap! Congratulations to Backer 135! Enjoy!

If you back Flex Is Kings by 5 pm EST this Friday (March 29) for $30 or more then you will be entered into a raffle to win a $100 giftcard to Roberta's in Bushwick, Brooklyn (named one of the 20 most important restaurants in America by Bon Appetit). Tell your friends cause this a major score for whomever wins and if one of your friends wins then they might take you out for a really tasty meal! Score!!

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

THE LOW DOWN

We so happy about the coming premiere and ecstatic about the venue we have been given. For our community of dancers and filmmakers, this opportunity is not an end, rather, it's a beginning. This film has the potential to change lives through arts-based advocacy. We are so proud to be sharing these stories and we need your help to make this premiere happen. We are now in the most expensive part of filmmaking - the finishing. We cannot screen this film without a professional sound mix and color correct - $20k is the bare minimum we need to cover this cost. Your support, at whatever level you can afford, will make a crucial difference to this project. By Kickstarter rules, if we don't reach our goal then the project will not be funded. But if we raise more than our goal, it will be invaluable in helping us complete this film and laying the groundwork for its theatrical release.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

NEW VIDEO!

Flex dancers rock our world so we made this video with them. Please share it with your friends. 21 dancers in two minutes and twenty-five seconds.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

NEW INCENTIVES!

Check out our three new incentive levels on the right. We'll send you a postcard or we'll send you a set of postcards that you can then send to your friends!

Examples of postcards. From right to left: Element, Brixx, Jay Donn and ShowOff.

OR you can score a pack of Hickies - they're for your shoes, they're awesome and at the $25 backer level you can choose either white, red or blue.

Hickies is an elastic lacing system that replaces traditional shoelaces and let's you easily slip in and out of your shoes while keeping them snug and secure.

One pack has enough bands for a pair of shoes and Hickies will look great on every pair of shoes you own. Watch the video and you'll never look back.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

THE FILM

Flex Is Kings takes place in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, where high crime rates and diminished opportunities have left the young men growing into adulthood few choices and fewer resources, pushing so many to lives dependent on crime and gangs. Yet there is a large and growing group resisting the notion that their prospects are limited to a powerless existence. On these streets a dance community rose, eager for an avenue of expression and determined to create a positive force in their neighborhood. "Flex" is the name of the dance style - it involves dance battle competitions that are at once flights of fancy as well as poetic evocations of the streets - gun battles, romantic interludes, run-ins with authorities. The film is structured around a season of Battlefest, the central organizing event of the Flex movement, and focuses on some of the community's key personalities.

Flizzo, an unconventional dancer and charismatic showman, brought the house down and cemented his place in the Flex community when a zebra finch flew from his mouth for a “punchline” during a show. His attempts to juggle dancing with a new baby and dismal job market cast doubts on the practicality of continuing his craft and resisting his old ways as a member of the Bloods, the life he left behind to devote himself to dance.

Jay Donn, the individualist auteur, faces frustration after competing on America’s Best Dance Crew and returning to Brooklyn to find higher status with no real reward. Jay gets a paying job in a more traditional baroque-modern dance company that exposes him to new possibilities as he travels to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to star in a new adaptation of Pinocchio.

Reem, the creator and organizer of Battlefest, the ultimate DIY dance showcase in Brooklyn, is a budding mogul. He struggles to do everything on his own while managing the dancers and coaching them to capitalize on their skills in the professional world. Reem is a consistent and steadfast force and serves as a backbone to the community and the film.

PRODUCTION TO POST PRODUCTION

When we began filming in 2010, we had no budget and only the beginnings of access into the fascinating world of "Flex." What we did have was a dedicated group of talented filmmakers willing to devote their time, their expertise, and essentially their lives to the making of this film. Over the course of two years, we were able to gain the trust of an entire neighborhood and capture the moments of intense beauty and drama that unfolded within it. In April 2012, we ran a successful Kickstarter campaign. This budget allowed us to edit the film, recoup a portion of the production costs, build a website and pay our composers a portion of their fee.

CURRENT TIMELINE

The supporters of our first campaign made this day possible: Flex Is Kings will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2013. We now seek your support to complete necessary finishing work on the film in order for it to be seen by an audience.

Online editing: A top-level post-production facility in NYC is giving us an incredible deal because they believe in the project. For a project like this color correction, sound mix and master print would typically cost $40k.

Original music: The score of a dance film has to be exceptional and we have had the privilege of working with composers up to the task.

Music rights: We have several tracks that need to be licensed.

Deliverables: This is the final step that will provide us with a hi-definition master of the completed film, ready for screenings.

THE DRILL

Click the green Back this Project button in the upper right-hand corner. There, you will input your pledge amount, select a reward and be taken through the checkout process through Amazon. When this campaign ends, we will contact you to get any additional information needed - such as your mailing address.

WHAT IF I BACKED THE FIRST CAMPAIGN?

You made Flex Is Kings - the film - possible. Without you, this project would be a really great (untold) story and hours of unedited footage. If you gave before, please don't feel any pressure to give again. Telling a friend, tweeting (@flexiskings) or posting this campaign to your Facebook wall would be super helpful.

WHAT IF YOU EXCEED THE GOAL?

What if?! If only! If we exceed the $20k goal then we can arrange screenings at local schools. We want to ensure that this film reaches the audiences that have the most at stake and the most to gain from arts education. With additional budget, we can transport flex dancers to schools for screenings, performances and talk-backs.

OTHER COOL STUFF

BKLYN FLEX - Ashton Kutcher and his Thrash Lab crew commissioned us to make a web series about flex dance. We jumped at the chance to spend more time with flex dancers!

Flex dancers have performed live (with accompaniment by our composers, veteran dance musicians Chris Lancaster and Jerome Begin - collectively known as Tranimal) on the film's behalf at the Dumbo Arts Festival and at the Brooklyn Museum as part of their Target First Saturday's program. We are working to create more live performance opportunities for the flex community in conjunction with marketing the film.

*If you're interested in making a donation for $1,000 or more, that donation can be tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, New York Foundation for the Arts. Contact us directly for details - info (at) streetdancebrooklyn (dot) com.

Risks and challenges

The film is finished - great news! It’s just not ready to be seen by an audience. We have saved money and donated time in every way possible but there are just some things that we cannot do ourselves (it’s a hard pill to swallow). The sound mix, color correct and music can only be done by those trained to do specifically those things.

We are very aware that we have not yet fulfilled ALL our incentives for the first campaign. We can assure you that we will! Obviously, the DVDs have not gone out and the screening party hasn’t yet happened because the film is only now finishing. Everyone should have received their button though - unless you filled out your survey very late. Please send us a direct message if you did not receive your button!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $150 or more
About $150

Special Thanks on our website (streetdancebrooklyn.com) + two tickets to a screening (in NYC) with live performances by flex dancers + DVD with bonus footage + a "Flex Is Kings" one-inch round pin-back button with new logo.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $150 or more
About $150

Let's SKYPE! A 15 minute conversation with Deidre & Mike - we'll talk to you about film, Kickstarter, and pretty much whatever you want...+ Limited edition print photo book with photographs by Deidre Schoo of the Brooklyn dance scene + Special Thanks on our website (streetdancebrooklyn.com) + two tickets to a screening (in NYC) with live performances by flex dancers + Behind the Scenes video + DVD with bonus footage + a "Flex Is Kings" one-inch round pin-back button with new logo.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $1,000 or more
About $1,000

Special Thanks in the film's credits and on our website + two tickets to a screening (in NYC) with live performances by flex dancers + Photo Book by Deidre Schoo + DVD with bonus footage + a "Flex Is Kings" one-inch round pin-back button with new logo.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

Associate Producer Credit which will be seen in the film's credit roll and IMDB + two tickets to a screening (in NYC) with live performances by flex dancers + Photo Book by Deidre Schoo + DVD with bonus footage + a "Flex Is Kings" one-inch round pin-back button with new logo.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10,000
About $10,000

Executive Producer Credit which will be seen in the film's credit roll and IMDB + two tickets to a screening (in NYC) with live performances by flex dancers + Photo Book by Deidre Schoo + DVD with bonus footage + a "Flex Is Kings" one-inch round pin-back button with new logo.